A property owner's ability to control hunting or fishing, either by granting licenses to individuals who enter private property to fish or hunt, or by leasing or conveying fishing or hunting rights to individuals, is subject to the right of the state to regulate all hunting or fishing. The state is trustee of the peoples' fish and game, so fish and game belong to the state in its sovereign capacity as representative and for the benefit of all its people in common ownership with the owner of the land. Threefore, any right to fish or hunt that is granted by a property owner may be regulated by the state.
The right to hunt or fish on private property is a property interest and may be acquired by a written lease of the property for such purposes. A lease of fishing or hunting rights, as a lease of other interests in real property, should describe the leased property in detail. The term of the lease and the amount of consideration should be specified.
In addition to the standard elements of a lease, a lease of hunting or fishing rights will often have special clauses, such as the grant of an exclusive right to hunt or fish and restrictions on the lessee's use of the property when taking fish or game.
